


I Always Knew

by MorpheusPrince



Category: Marvel (Comics), Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Another product of my Id, Carnivals and Kissing, Fluff, Fluffy Angst, Fluffy Ending, M/M, Pre-Relationship, flangst, these two will be my death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-15 23:50:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11816808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorpheusPrince/pseuds/MorpheusPrince
Summary: Resisting falling in love is hard.  Sometimes, though, it's just as hard giving in.ORMy id blows up and writes Billy/Teddy angsty fluffy relationship start after listening to a Vaccines album.





	I Always Knew

**Author's Note:**

> So this was written after listening to an album by The Vaccines. It's SOMEWHAT inspired by the song and music video for "I Always Knew", but please note I have a wildly different interpretation of that song than most people. All my friends see it as a breakup song, while I see it as being about two people resisting falling into a relationship despite mutual feelings. With that said, please check them out, they're a great band! Comments mean the world to me, so say hi if you enjoy!

The tilt-a-whirl pitched around another corner, the bright lights and throbbing music climbing higher.  Teddy clutched tight, eyes wide and mouth open in a frozen grin, thankful they had decided to skip lunch.  A quick glance to his left showed Billy head rolling, eyes closed, hair wild in the wind, with the most inappropriately serene smile on his face.  Just absolute peace, free of any worry lines or tightness.  It was good seeing him like this.

A couple weeks of training were one thing.  A couple months were another.  Iron Lad had been putting them through the absolute paces, night after night training them in any free hour.  Kang’s arrival was too important for anything to take precedence.  But burnout was real. 

 Nate had been receptive to Billy’s quiet suggestion they all take a night off to go to the New York State Fair. 

“God!  No, come on, it was a joke!  We don’t need to go, you’ve said training takes precedence.”   
  
“Billy, no good can come of pushing ourselves too hard.  Besides, we’ve been working on seeing if you and Teddy can fly other people along with you.  It’ll be a good chance for you to stretch your powers.”  
  
“Well…if you’re certain.”  Billy’s sly smile didn’t go unnoticed by Teddy.  He could tell Billy’s slightly devilish streak had forseen he’d have better luck with a modest denial.  Billy shot him a covert wink.  
  
Of course, Elijah, initially resisting, declared the excursion his idea the minute the group had settled on it.  Everyone shrugged it off though.  That was his typical moodiness at play.  Teddy and Billy prepared changes of clothes for themselves for when they arrived, and decided that Teddy would fly Elijah going, and Billy would levitate him back.  Sure, Nate could fly, but he was the only one who knew what he was doing.  And besides, someone needed to spot them.

When they first got there, Billy had been insistent on one thing- the hall of home crafts.  He loved to linger among the jams, and quilts, and pies, stopping to offer little compliments and critiques to the stranger offerings.  Of course, Elijah had been less than gung ho, and once Billy started oohing and ahhing to Teddy over some blue-ribbon pumpkins, he loudly announced his intention to go shoot something and win a large stuffed animal for his Grandma.  Nate shrugged and went along, leaving Billy and Teddy to linger.

But here and now was just the wind, the sky, and Billy.  Teddy settled back just awestruck.  Here they both were, capable of flying whenever they wanted.  Hell, they’d flown here.  But flying, being pushed along by this metal spider was somehow more thrilling.  Centrifugal force pushing them, flying together…

"No.  God damn it.  He might be gay, but you’re not even out and the odds of him liking you…besides, we’re supposed to be stopping the world from ending.  This isn’t even the time.  You shouldn’t even be thinking of this."

That wasn’t to say he didn’t steal looks at men he knew Billy found attractive, and flirt with appropriating a feature or two.   God.  That was scummy and manipulative.  He felt like an asshole for even playing in the mirror with a new nose he lifted off a Calvin Klein model he saw Billy stare at a poster of.  
  
Besides, Billy was…mercurial.  Sure he and Teddy were always thick as thieves, laughing it up at the back of the training room, grabbing comics after school, but he also had his _moods_.  Stretches where he would just look at Teddy, wince, tremble for a second, and then turn the other way.  After Billy shot a few sparks Teddy’s way when he tried to interfere the first time, he learned not to go there.

“Teddy?  Earth to Tee?”  Teddy snapped to at Billy’s waving hand.  He was looking up at him from the ground.  “Hurry up!  The rides over, I don’t want the owner shooing us off.  Let’s go get cotton candy!”  Teddy’s smile turned indulgent.  “I did say we’d grab some after…”  He considered resisting, teasing a pout from the corners of Billy’s mouth, but he decided against it.  “Keep it simple.  Don’t push.  Don’t even THINK.”  
  
They fluttered from cotton candy, to candy apples, to funnel cakes (did Billy’s sweet tooth ever end?)  Billy stopped for a moment in the warm orange light under the Ferris wheel and sighed contentedly.  


“Yknow, I’ve never been to the fair with any…friends before.”  
  
“Oh yeah, Bee?  You seemed gung ho.  Come with your family a lot?”  
  
“Every year.  We actually came earlier this year.  But, you know my family.  Mom thinks the rides will collapse and kill us all, and dad’s too eager to go see the prize cows to give us time in the craft halls like I like.  And god forbid we eat anything prepared in these _filthy_ conditions!”  He recoiled in mock horror, snickering.  “But this is good.  I needed this.  Needed…”  He trailed off, before a slightly glazed look entered his eyes.  His shoulders tensed, his jaw clenched, and his eyes narrowed, stress popping at their corners.   
  
“Hey.  Hey Bee, what did you need?”  Teddy reached out.  Sure he knew this look, but he never saw it come on.  Billy nodded, and tried backing away, biting his lip.  “I, I have to go.”  His back off suddenly rose to a sprint as he darted across the midway, ducking onto a dark row of barns.  “Bee, wait!  Tell me what this is about!”

Teddy chased after him, growing a bit frantic.  Billy’s pain hurt Ted right in the pit of his stomach.  He cursed himself for how bad he had it, but dashed along.  The rows of barns looked identical in the half light of the fluorescents.  He visibly heaved with relief when he saw Billy, but quickly returned to scared when he saw him shaking and crying, knees pulled to his chest, at the side of one of the empty halls.

Teddy ran up and tried to put an arm around him, but Billy gave a sharp “No!”, pulling away, flecks of magic flying from his eyes along with the tears, sparks, now collecting into small bolts, dancing across his hands.  Teddy put his hand out, clasping both Billy’s hands in his own.  He winced in sharp pain.  He had thickened the skin of his palms, trying to insulate his body, but a sharp tingle of pain still shot up both his arms.  He gritted his teeth.  “I’m not leaving until you say what’s going on…”  
  
Billy choked on his words.  “No…can’t say.  Know it’ll hurt you.  Just go…no words.”  He bit his lip tighter, drawing a pearl of ruby blood.  But Billy kept holding until the sobs started to calm, and the sparks subsided.  “Bee, then we’ll both sit here til dawn.  You’ve gotta tell someone.”  
  
Billy sighed, wiping his face on his long sleeve.  The cool night air chilled the tears on his face.  “What…what if I can’t say.  Because of the way my words work.  What if there was something I wanted but didn’t want to make it happen.  And I…I can’t.  You taught me.  I had to say it and have a mental pcture.  And, with the ferris wheel, and the lights, I just…the mental picture was so strong, and I couldn’t get it out of my head, and I had to go, and…” he started to babble, dancing around the simple words that hung unspoken.

Teddy started to thing, trying to wrap his head around the times he’d seen Billy clam up before.  It had always been before some intended plans, dinner out, or a jog around the park, or one time he had invited him to a new arcade right near his apartment. All kinds of….oh. 

“Please?  Can we just go to bed?  I don’t want to say it.  I CAN’T say it or everything will change.  This will all fall apart.  I don’t want to break this.”  
  
Teddy’s breath hitched.  “Don’t worry.  Just…let go.  Don’t hold on to this anymore.  Let it out.  I promise I won’t get upset.  I won’t let anything hurt you.”  Neither of those seemed to work.  In fact, the last brought a new batch of tears to the corners of Billy’s eyes.  “I…I won’t let anything hurt me.  I won’t let anything hurt us.”  
  
Those seemed to do the ticket as Billy choked out “I…like you.  I want to be with you.  It’s selfish, and I didn’t want to change what we had, and I don’t even know whether you like guys, but I want to be with you, I want to be with you, I…” Billy caught himself doing what he promised he wouldn’t.  Repeating the words he knew would make his mental image come true.  Would make Teddy scoop him up, and kiss him, and twirl him around like the biggest stuffed animal he could have possibly won.

Something odd was happening though.  Nothing.  No sparks, no magic.  Nothing changing.  “Huh?  No, I…I couldn’t say that.  I couldn’t make things change.  I…oh god, are my powers not working again?  I was doing so well…N-not that I wanted to use them on this!  Oh god, I’m an idiot…”  
  
Teddy finally gave a gentle smile.  “You’re missing something, Billy.  I know why they didn’t work.”  
  
“You do?”  He looked up, now more confused than upset.  
  
“I do.  There was nothing to change.”   
  
And when Billy’s mind finally wrapped around those words, they kissed.  Hesitant, clumsy, in the shadows of a dairy barn, but nonetheless, perfect.


End file.
